Amos Winter’s LFC, or Leveraged Freedom Chair, is a wheelchair for the developing world. It’s designed for off-road use as well as for speeding along the odd good, flat road, and because it is built from bicycle parts, it can be repaired anywhere that bikes can be repaired, which is pretty much the entire world. In fact, its simple design means that it can actually be made by anyone with a few spare parts and some welding gear.
First, it’s long, and therefore stable on hills and other rough-terrain. And because not even a strong, able-bodied person would want to push themselves and a heavy steel chair up a bumpy slope, it has “gears”. Those two long levers are what drives the chairs, via bike chains and freewheels (both sides are independent, to allow steering). Grab low down the levers and you can get up some speed. When the going gets harder, you grab the tops of the levers and use the mechanical advantage they provide to shift down and power up hills.
The LFC has undergone tests, and is starting a pre-production clinical trial right now in India. Hopefully that will go well, but this story really shows the importance of communication in the developing world. If you show a photo of this chair to anyone with a workshop, anywhere in the world, and they would be able to start building it right away.
From engines powered by garbage to a ray gun that zaps fat, these futuristic gadgets from movies, TV and novels were once purely the realm of science fiction, but now you can get the real thing.
Far future predictions of tech gadgets rarely work out. Not many of us ride a jetpack to work or step into a transporter to beam over to France on a whim, and the flying car is still a figment of the imagination (if not downright impossible). Even the light saber in Star Wars, which would be really handy as a hand-to-hand combat weapon, has never materialized. (Of course, it also defies the laws of physics.) Why can’t book authors and moviemakers ever get it right?
Well, it turns out that a few “far future” gadgets actually do exist, and you can order them on Amazon. Here’s a quick rundown of the best products and where you’ve seen them.
GE VScan
In the Star Trek movies, a tricorder provided a quick and painless diagnosis. This GE medical scanner uses the same technology. It works almost exactly like an ultrasound, but it can find critical issues such as fluid around the heart without any invasive surgery
. The pocket device, about the size of a smartphone, weighs about one pound. Scans take about two minutes.
Cyclone Power Technologies
In the Back to the Future movies, a DeLorean runs on garbage. Cyclone Power has a steam engine that runs on fuel made from corn husks, orange peels, or just about any biodegradable agent. The engine requires no fossil fuel oils at all, so it’s safe for the environment. Yet, the engine is no slouch: it has enough power for a large farm tractor.
StayHealthy Body Fat Analyzer
In the Doctor Who series, a body fat analyzer could convert your extra fat into an alien creature. This body fat analyzer doesn’t go that far. It sends a “mild” electrical current through your body and measures the amount of fat. That way, you can get a much clearer picture of exactly how much weight loss you really need, as opposed to just the bottom line.
Zeltiq fat burner
Matt Groening’s Futurama presents goofy science-fiction ideas as well-known facts. In several episodes, characters zap fat with a ray gun. Yet, the Zeltiq fat burner does just that, by freezing fat cells so they eventually deteriorate. The product is already in use as a cosmetic surgery aid but will eventually become a home appliance that anyone can use.
Geo-fencing
Arthur C. Clarke famously predicted we’d be using GPS tracking in his many novels, and even nailed the part about triangulation. He wrote about how objects and vehicles would be “geo-located” by revolving satellites. Yet, things are getting out of control: your location can be shared from your cell phone at all times and you can create a constant stream of your whereabouts, using tools such as Loopt and Google Latitude. Next year, your car will also stream its exact location (OnStar service does this already). Eventually, real estate agents will feed listings to you as you walk by a new home for sale. And what’s next? GPS will link more closely to credit card transactions – your Burger King stops will be much faster.
Ionator
In Philip K. Dick’s Zap Gun novel from 1967, he predicted that – in 2004 — we’d still be fighting a cold war with Russia, but our weapons would be consumerized into household aids. The Ionator, from a small Minnesota company, looks like something from the book. It zaps germs by spraying a chemical that separates grime from counter-tops. The hand-held gun is futuristic enough that, when you use one, you feel like you should be wearing a Star Trek uniform.
From jagged, snow-capped mountain peaks to peaceful villages adorned with colorful prayer flags, there are perhaps no more breathtaking views on earth than from high above the Himalayas. Five paragliders are right now flying and hiking the length of the Himalayas all the way through Nepal, and they’re sharing the once-in-a-lifetime experience with anyone who has a computer.
While paragliding in the Himalayas is a fairly common trip for experienced fliers, no team has gone all the way through Nepal. These guys are seasoned fliers and between them they have experience flying all over the world. But they’ve never tried anything like this before: hiking and flying more than 800 miles from Dharamsala to Sikkim, India.
“This journey has never been done by a team,” said Nick Greece of the U.S. Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. “People have flown from Northern India to the Nepal border but never further. This team will fly across Nepal as well. For a team to do this live tracking is imperative, and it is only in the last year or two that it has become realistic and relatively reliable.”
The Himalayan Odyssey Team is carrying some impressive tech. It has the obligatory iPhones and three solar chargers to keep them going, variometers to track their rate of ascent and descent, two-way radios for staying in touch and GPS for staying on course. When they’ve got cellphone coverage, the team will upload track logs to their website, allowing those of us who prefer our feet on the ground to follow their adventure from our cubicles. SPOT GPS trackers also will update their route every 10 minutes.
“These will allow visitors to reply our flights on Google Maps, or Google Earth and visualize every circle, every zig, and every zag we make, and even what the terrain underneath us looks like while we’re zigging and zagging,” team member Eric Reed said. “It’s beautiful, but it will depend on GSM service.”
Reed, a member of the U.S. Paragliding Team who was laid off last year from a management position at Microsoft, says he’s already received e-mails of support and can’t wait to start offering live updates on his progress. He’s been through the Himalayas before with team leader Brad Sander, and at the end of last year’s trip they decided that this time they’d “take the line as far as we could.”
“All of the communication is great fun — both for the readers and the writers — and I think it does actually improve our safety level, but it also inevitably make the wilds just a little less wild,” he said. “That’s the way with technology. But I’m not complaining. There’s still plenty of wild in the world.”
In addition to letting the rest of the world come along for the journey, Reed says all that technology is essential for safety, helping keep the team connected even when they land in different locations. The Himalayas can be just as inhospitable as they are inspiring, and as they began their journey Wednesday, according to their blog, conditions were already far from ideal.
“We plan to fly and land together as a team, as much as possible, but inevitably there will be days when we get separated,” he said. “Once we’re all on the ground if we’re not all together, communication gets hard via cell or radio. The SPOTs will help us here as well — we’ll use them to send our position via SMS to everyone on our team once we’ve landed.”
We all own many different cool gadgets and items that are important to us either for the utility they provide or perhaps because of an intimate or personal reason. Whatever the reason is, we really hate it when someone comes and touches our personal belongings and worst yet..steals them.
In order to avoid such mishaps and unfortunate events, we have gathered here a great collection of different Anti Theft Gadgets and Bizarre Designs that are meant to help individuals make their devices and belongings less attractive, appealing or desired to a normal bystander. Moreover, there are a few security gadgets and projects that may also interest the more techy of you, who may be looking for some new gizmos to own or security diy to built.
The following aren’t guaranteed to deter thieves or work colleagues from getting at your gadgets but are meant as an additional things to make them think a second time before getting at your personal stuff.
1. Anti Theft Lunch Bags
These amazing sandwich bags are a sure way to keep any co-workers from getting into your lunch.
As if any introduction is needed, some individuals at work are rude enough to touch, get into or even treat themselves to your lunch. I am not sure what drives these folks into allowing themselves to eat someone else’s food without permission, but unfortunately these few do actually exist.
In order to battle them when you cannot install a video camera inside the refrigerator, these Anti Theft Bags could really do the trick. The Sandwich bags contain green splotch marks on both sides of the bag, so when a sandwich is packed in there, it looks as if it is old and rotten.
The design itself is amazing, but it does have a few possible downfalls such as a different person throwing your lunch in the garbage because of the color, or the coworker decides to take an additional step and investigate your lunch.
For a simple and easily accessible place to store your ’stash’, this cool Secret Electric Wall Socket compartment provides a great solution.
It is a simple 2 plug wall socket that is not meant to run electricity throughout it but is an actual hidden wall compartment for individual belongings. You can store cash, jewelry and other ’stuff’ inside that would stay out of harm’s way, and off a burglar’s radar. Plus, it looks just like your other electric sockets, so you are not changing any of your home’s design and characteristics.
3. Fake Cassette Tape Car Stereo
With the innovation of gadgets, let alone music gadgets, most car stereos advance as well, adding CD’s, disc changers, mp3, video and even video games to be played while riding in the vehicle. In order to get thieves to decide to move on to the next vehicle after a glimpse at your stereo dashboard, this cool diy is a funny one.
The Fake car stereo utilizes an old cassette tape deck as a facade that attaches on top of your current stereo deck in your car.
This way, when thieves take a look at your stereo, they would think twice before breaking in for a 90’s car stereo that will be useless in today’s market.
4. Anti Theft Stickers
These stickers don’t seem like much at first glance but then again, a thief would rather go for a ‘prettier’ and newer bicycle then risk being caught for a scratched and old bike.
The Anti theft stickers are great designs that are easy to implement on your bicycle, motorcycle or even automobile. Whatever the reason you are trying to ugly your product, these stickers provide an easy solution.
5. The Anti Theft Plug Mug
This innovative Anti Theft Mug is a cool way to keep your work colleagues from using your mug while you are away or on a sick day.
I am certain there are more than a few out there who get extremely angry when they find their personal mugs and dishes have been used by others in the office. It is a sense of a personal space being invaded and should not be tolerated. For that, the plug mug grants a perfect way to keep your mug at work and know ahead of time that others cannot use it to fulfill their needs and habits.
By a simple ‘plug’ designed in the mug, the owner may remove the plug when deemed needed, and therefor the mug itself becomes useless. That is, unless someone will use their fingers to keep the mug hole filled so liquids won’t spill out.
The Brief Safe looks rather disgusting when you first lay your eyes on it but please realize it is meant to look so in order to keep people from checking any further. These disgusting looking underwear are actually a storage compartment which has been “designed” with certain marks, so to keep prying hands out.
When traveling and having to carry cash, documents, or checks, you do not always have the access to a safe in your room. In those situations, the Brief Safe is a great alternative, where you may store your personal belongings and could easily imagine that no one would search through it. I mean, just put yourself in the burglar’s shoes…if you ran across someone’s dirty underwear in their room, would you try to see if there are any valuables stored in there…or would you be so disgusted and just leave it alone?
7. Home Security Paintball Gun Turret
For a more colorful solution to Home Security, this Paintball Gun Turret DIY is a great option. It may not be as ‘correct’ or ‘ethical’ as some would expect from home security measures, but then again…are thieves using ‘allowed’ methods?
8. Tesla Car Burglar Alarm
The Tesla Coils Car Burglar Alarm is an innovative and bright project that grants a light show for neighbors, passerby and others who come near this vehicle. Once the switch is turned on, a burglar could trigger the device, in turn locking themselves within the Tesla circle. I am not sure about any of you, but such a method could really be a spectacle for all around which may in fact force some to dare others to do it…just to see the light show.
Anti Theft Laptop Cases
These few cool laptop cases provide some alternatives to regular notebook cases in designs that may help deter onlookers. The choices provided are, again, not guaranteed (just like all the above) but provide a different way to carry your notebook computer. The designs themselves of a daily newspaper or a postal envelope grant a method that hopes will make bystanders disinterested or unknowning of the material or items that are stored inside.
9. Newspaper Laptop Sleeve
The Newspaper Notebook case provides a choice of 5 different newspapers (in 5 separate languages) to choose from and looks like a cool idea. But wouldn’t people actually have a second or third look since the headline doesn’t change…even weeks, months or years later?
The Postal Envelope Laptop Sleeve is also a fun option and can be folded or rolled when not in use. The thing is, after seeing the old Macbook Air commercials…these kind of envelopes are probably what a laptop thief first looks for.
We use USB Flash Drives practically every single day at work, home or at a friend’s house, but this also endangers the documents and files by taking them away from your home into the world. In order to secure your important data, here are two cool solutions with the Ironkey and Biometric USB Flash Drives.
11. Ironkey USB Flash Drive
The Ironkey USB Flash Drive is provide the normal features of a portable USB storage device but with added encryption (military grade AES encryption) and is filled with epoxy based compound, thus waterproofing and preventing many from its internal hardware. Moreover, if it is damaged or the password is incorrectly entered 10 times…the data will self destruct.
12. Biometric USB Flash Drive
The second option is the Biometric Flash Drive, which simply provides the Biometric option to log into the USB Drive. With this, you can rest assured that unless it is you (or someone that has your fingerprints) that attempts to log in…the data will remain secure and out of harm’s way.
13. Ugly Digital Camera
Whether you are traveling, going out for a day or simply like carrying your camera around, I am sure you have been worried about your camera being snatched or stolen. A cool way to deter potential thieves and camera snatchers is to uglify your camera…in other words, make your camera less appealing by making it ugly, old looking and rather worthless.
In this cool image taken by Connors of Jimmy’s Ugly Camera, one can easily exemplify a really ugly camera that was tested in the field. As was mentioned, it was used throughout travels in Brazil and was left behind when stopped and mugged by locals. Seems like they would rather have a few bucks then an ugly camera.
14. 80’s Walkman iPod Case
Although this Walkman iPod Case was made for the classic iPod models, I am sure a different version can accommodate the iPod touch as well. It is a great solution for those that feel threatened by bystanders staring at their new iPods and would rather have them look another way.
This cool case is an ode to old music gadgets by re-using an old Walkman cassette case as a case for a newly innovated gadget. While everyone is walking around listening to their iPods, talking on their iPhones and perhaps even watching a movie on their Zune, you could make sure to remain below the radar, for your music product is just so old…no one would be interested in it. Who even listens to cassette tapes anymore?
15. Anti Theft Bicycle Wheel
A cool and innovative design that provides a bicycle owner the sense of serenity that thieves would not be interested in stealing their bicycle wheel. The collapsing bike wheel design provides the owner the ability to collapse the inside rim with a turn of a key, making the bike wheel unusable, ‘broken’ and a deterrent from thieves.
16. Fake Security Cameras
If you cannot afford real security cameras for your home (or are not interested), then these fake security cameras are a cool, inexpensive alternative that would provide a simple ’scarecrow’ like solution. While it wont’ record and provide any real surveillance, it would assist in decreasing those who may not be interested in getting on film…this could be more than just burglars and criminals.
In testimony today before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly (pictured) said he wanted to take out that "formidable capacity to adjust tactics while attacks are underway."
We also discussed the complications of media coverage that could disclose law enforcement tactics in real time. This phenomenon is not new. In the past, police were able to defeat any advantage it might give hostage takers by cutting off power to the location they were in. However, the proliferation of handheld devices would appear to trump that solution. When lives are at stake, law enforcement needs to find ways to disrupt cell phones and other communications in a pinpointed way against terrorists who are using them.
For now, Kelly said, the NYPD is taking a whole range of measures to stop another Mumbai-style spree -- from working with private businesses to interdicting boats to training recruits in heavy weapons to installing a spycam network across downtown Manhattan.
The chaos the attacks created magnified the difficulty of mounting an appropriate response. First responders, in order to deal with such a crisis, must first and foremost have adequate information on what is occurring as well as the capability to mount a rapid and effective response that minimizes the impact of the attack. In Mumbai it was not immediately clear to authorities whether there were multiple attack groups or a single group. The attackers were able to exploit the initial confusion because of the indiscriminate firings to move on to new targets. While preparedness training for this type of attack may not have prevented it, the effects likely could have been mitigated and reduced if authorities had been prepared and had exercised responses to terrorist attacks across all levels of government. Within the United States, our national exercises incorporate not only federal interagency participants, but also include regional, state, and local authorities, in order to identify potential gaps in our responses.
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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings. His work is amazing.
GE VScan
Cyclone Power Technologies
StayHealthy Body Fat Analyzer
Zeltiq fat burner
Geo-fencing
Ionator
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